Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba. (source: TASR - Pavol Zachar)
Zuzana Petková and Jaroslav Reich of Nadácia Zastavme korupciu (Stop Corruption Foundation) wrote the story.
Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba (SNS) has reportedly conducted the most extensive purges among the ministers in Robert Fico’s government.
In the span of eight months, nearly 50 experts have left. Their positions have often been filled by unqualified individuals, often members of the Slovak National Party (SNS) or Taraba’s previous party, Life.
Among the dismissed experts at the Environment Ministry is Katarína Butkovská. She had served as the director of the department of nature protection and biodiversity since 2017 and became the deputy environment minister in the caretaker government of Ľudovít Ódor in 2023. Over the past five years, she contributed to the declaration of dozens of protected areas, nature reserves, and the reform of Slovakia’s national parks.
Lucia Szabová from the Climate Coalition organisation acknowledges that every government has the right to appoint its own nominees. However, she points out that long-serving experts have left the ministry.
“In Slovakia, we have long struggled to attract specialists to the public sector, not just at the Environment Ministry, but it is particularly noticeable there,” she says, noting that the experts were dismissed without explanation.
“When we weaken environmental protection at this level, there is no one qualified to perform this work, which clearly paralyses the system,” she emphasises.
SNS district chair replaces expert
Eva Kolesárová had been leading the Bodrog River Basin Administration since 2010 and is considered a leading Slovak expert in water management. Minister Taraba replaced her with Jaroslav Vaľo, the district chair of the SNS party. According to Taraba and SNS chair Andrej Danko, Vaľo is equally qualified and has been working in the company for 17 years.
However, according to information from the Denník N daily, Vaľo did not engage in water management. Instead, he was responsible for overseeing a single workshop in the company, where he was in charge of maintaining lorries, construction equipment, and lawnmowers.
The Stop Corruption Foundation requested a statement from the ministry, which referred to the law: “The senior employees were dismissed from their positions in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Service Act.”
The law was amended by Igor Matovič’s government (2020-2021) to allow the dismissal of senior officials without providing a reason. This change was intended to make it easier for OĽaNO to remove the appointees of political opponents. The ministry claims that it has announced selection procedures for several positions but did not provide further specifics.
Selection procedures only for show
The selection procedures at the Environment Ministry appear peculiar. An example is Bojnice Zoo, where the interim director was the regional chair of the SNS, Emil Divéky. He later also ‘won’ the formal selection process.
Szabová notes that in many cases, party affiliations but zero experience in management or the specific field the new directors are supposed to supervise can be seen: “How can we expect these institutions to function when these people don’t even know what they are supposed to do?”
According to her, this is also evident within the ministry itself, where, for example, the head of the climate and air protection section was dismissed. “We had hoped that they would recognise his expertise because this section manages a huge amount of negotiations with the European Union.”
Following his departure, some international matters that Slovakia needs to address, even at the legislative level, have come to a halt. This includes fulfilling the recovery plan and the climate law.
Opposition: Acting in the interest of lobbyists
Former deputy environment minister Michal Kiča (Democrats) views the minister’s actions as controversial, accusing him of acting in the interest of lobbyists.
“His conduct is evident in the personnel policies of the ministry. It involves unprecedented nepotism and the allocation of positions purely along party lines, bordering on political corruption. This is reflected in the fact that not only top positions, but also routine managerial roles in lower and middle management are being filled by incompetent individuals linked to the SNS or the Life party,” he added.
According to Kiča, Taraba’s dismissal of competent individuals is also aimed at avoiding substantive opposition. For instance, the director of the Mining Museum is now a district chair of SNS, the head of Tatras National Park (TANAP) ran in the elections as a candidate for the Life party, and in the Slovak Water Management Company, the general director and middle management positions are again held by people who were either secretaries or candidates from the Life party.
In contrast, the ministry has lost individuals such as Katarína Holubová, head of the Water Research Institute, who had worked in the field for 40 years and participated in expert groups preparing European legislation for the entire European Union.
Ján Korňan, head of the Kysuce Protected Landscape Area, who saved the Slovak population of the golden eagle from extinction, had to leave just before retirement. Oddly, the golden eagle is the emblem of the SNS.
“Purely loyal party appointments with zero managerial performance can only serve one goal – to decimate nature protection in Slovakia. And I think it is currently well on way to achieving that,” Kiča remarked.
The low expertise of managers can also have a direct financial impact on the country. Regions may lose funding that Slovakia is supposed to draw on for green measures by 2030, totalling €5 billion.
The management of protected areas and caves affects not only the quality of nature conservation, but also the development of tourism and support for local residents.
The Stop Corruption Foundation has long been assisting whistleblowers. They also offer help to environmentalists if their dismissal is unlawful.
